Download Keepass from select Professional Edition

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1 Download Keepass from select Professional Edition READ CAREFULLY: If you only need access to your password database when on this machine, continue with step 1A. If you would like to access your password database from any device, please see step 1B. Step 1A: Create a database When you first launch KeePass you ll be presented with the following screen: The button you want is the one on the far left (the one that looks like a piece of paper with a sunburst on it). That will allow you to create a new database. The database will store all your usernames, passwords, URL s and other notes. After clicking on New, you ll be presented with a traditional Save As dialog asking you where you wish to save the database. For ease of use I place my database in the same folder as KeePass. Choose whatever name you wish here. (THIS WILL ONLY WORK LOCALLY, SEE STEP 1B FOR GOOGLE DRIVE ACCESS.)

2 Step 1B: Database on Google Drive If you do not have a google account already, you will have to create one now. Once you have created a Gmail account, and then go to drive.google.com. Let the installer run through its steps, it will ask you to connect your Gmail account, after you connect it, it will give you a walkthrough on how to use Google Drive. You can find the google drive folder under Start- Username-Google Drive. Save the Keepass file in the google drive folder to access this from any device. (YOU WILL HAVE TO INSTALL GOOGLE DRIVE ON ALL DEVICES TO ACCESS YOUR KEEPASS FILE. ALSO, YOU WILL HAVE TO INSTALL KEEPASS2 ON YOUR PHONE.) Step 2: Encrypt the database After choosing the name of your database, you ll then be asked to secure the password. You ll have the option to provide a password, create a key file, or map it to your Windows account. The last option is a tad problematic as it makes the database non-portable.

3 If you are going to use a password to secure the file, make sure it s extremely secure. It should be a sentence with punctuation and maybe some nonsense characters at the end. It needs to be at least 20 characters. It can be something about you, but it would need to be something that absolutely nobody knows, and a full sentence. Step 3: Configure the database After creating the entropy and clicking on OK on that screen and the Create Composite Master Key screen, you ll be asked to configure the database. There are a couple of tabs to note here. First is the General tab, where you can set your default username. Most sites now just use your address as your account name, so you can specify that there.

4 Next will be the security tab, which will ask you how encrypted you d like your database. If you click on the 1 second link it will set it to take one second to load and save the database, which is generally pretty good. Last but not least is what you want encrypted in the database. What I like to do is encrypt the notes as well, as I store my security question and answer in that field so I can create random answers.

5 Step 4: Create a new account Congratulations. You ve now created a database and you re all set to go. To create a new account and have it generate a new password, simply click on the little key with the green arrow on it. You ll then be asked for information about the account. Put the username you re going to use in the first field, and then any notes (such as that security question and answer) down below. The ellipse icon next to the password simply indicates if you want the password to be hidden on this screen. The little keys allow you to create a new password randomly, which is by far my favorite feature of KeePass. Simply click on that and choose Open Password Generator and you ll be presented with the following screen:

6 From here you can choose the password length and what characters you want to include. You should choose any special characters the site will let you, as well as the maximum length. Congratulations you ve now set up KeePass and created your first account. Step 5: Use KeePass To use KeePass going forward on a day to day basis, there s just a couple of things to keep in mind. When you open KeePass you ll be prompted for your password and key file. Simply type your password and choose your key file on this screen.

7 To use your passwords, you can simply click on the entry in the screen and hit Ctl-C to copy it. Another great trick is to bring up the screen you need to enter your username and password in, click in the username field, and then bring up KeePass. Click on Ctl-V (paste), which will switch windows back to the one you were last on, and then put in your username, tab, and then your password, and then hit enter for you.